The present invention relates to the field of email communications, and, more specifically, handling email communications having human delegate prepared summaries.
Some email account holders receive an inordinate quantity of messages, which can be challenging for the account holders to handle. For example, celebrities, corporate executives, and the like are often inundated with email messages. Often, one or more human assistants help the account holder to manage their email.
A problem with this practice is that existing email systems are not built to track interactions involving email delegation. For example, when email is forwarded to another person, referred to as a delegate, most email systems automatically mark that email as having been read. An email account holder will likely never give another thought to the delegated message. Similarly, if a delegate provides an account holder of a summary of a set of one or more lengthy email messages, and the account holder reads the message, then only the delegate's message is marked as read. The other messages that were summarized remain marked as unread within the account holder's inbox.
The above situation is further complicated by sets of related email communications or email threads. For example, it can be difficult for a delegate of a message to fully understand the context of that message in absence of the related ones. Hence, a delegate may not possess appropriate information to handle an email message for another, unless all related messages are also conveyed.
Additionally, read status of a related set of email communications can be significant, as delegates can refer whether the account holder has read a message based on this status, and construct summaries accordingly.